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DnD4th-The Warforged Five, a story of romance and intrigue...[OOC?]
Hermenegilde
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
The Warforged Five
Afros optional
Your eyes flick open. A rat is gnawing on your left ankle. It's very dark. With the little light that dribbles through the cracks, you determine that you are in a wooden box. Something tugs at your memory but you cannot pinpoint it. Upon kicking the case apart, you discover a strange scene : upturned wagons, large wood boxes, and strange black blobs devouring some orcs.
For a moment, you observe the scene. After a while you discover that you've acquired something new. Free will.
One of the blobs starts eating a wagon.
A clown walks in your line of sight.
The rat dies when you step on it.
Such is the way of life when you are free.
What will you do now ?
The Warforged Five is a 4th edition adventure set somewhere and somewhen. With something as a subject.
Maybe.
About the DM
About the tone
About posting rate
About combat
About characters
Questions ?
Afros optional
Your eyes flick open. A rat is gnawing on your left ankle. It's very dark. With the little light that dribbles through the cracks, you determine that you are in a wooden box. Something tugs at your memory but you cannot pinpoint it. Upon kicking the case apart, you discover a strange scene : upturned wagons, large wood boxes, and strange black blobs devouring some orcs.
For a moment, you observe the scene. After a while you discover that you've acquired something new. Free will.
One of the blobs starts eating a wagon.
A clown walks in your line of sight.
The rat dies when you step on it.
Such is the way of life when you are free.
What will you do now ?
The Warforged Five is a 4th edition adventure set somewhere and somewhen. With something as a subject.
Maybe.
About the DM
That's me. It's possible that I suck at pbp DMing. We'll see.
I've heard DMing makes a man all-powerful.
I've heard DMing makes a man all-powerful.
About the tone
If you're expecting a serious dark and gritty adventure, go look at the picture again. A picture is worth a thousand d&d characters. Your characters can be as serious as you want them to be, but the adventure will not be. Probably. Unless I fail.
If there is any sex involved in this story, it will be kinky sex with voyeuristic robots.
There will not be an AAD (approaching apocalyptic doom) at the beginning of the story, but one could slip up behind you and sap you in the back of the head.
If there is any sex involved in this story, it will be kinky sex with voyeuristic robots.
There will not be an AAD (approaching apocalyptic doom) at the beginning of the story, but one could slip up behind you and sap you in the back of the head.
About posting rate
One post-a-day does not make the dentist go away but is expected for continued play. More is better. Week-ends will be slower from the DM.
About combat
I will or will not provide maps as strikes my fancy, and combat will sometimes involve no rolls and hinge upon... choices. But only sometimes.
Weapons will NOT confer keywords upon powers. So if you want to frost cheese it, you better have frost powers.
Weapons will NOT confer keywords upon powers. So if you want to frost cheese it, you better have frost powers.
About characters
You've made it this far ! Yay for me !
You may create any character of any level, any class and any race you like with whatever equipment you want (using stuff from the builder), but I will be picking 5 lvl 12 Warforged characters with standard equipment (Lvl 13-12-11 magic items and 900000 copper pieces.)
I expect backgrounds.
They should include what faction you used to belong to (use one from Eberron or MAKE ONE UP). What kind of stuff led you into the heightened spheres of Paragon Path-hood. What the hell you were doing in a box. And your character' favorite flavor of ice cream.
Bonus points for linked backgrounds.
There will be a smallish intent on my part to pick characters covering all four roles, but if the five most interesting applications are for controllers... so be it.
Bonus point for goblins, bullywugs and flying dwarves.
Again : Weapons will NOT confer keywords upon powers. If you want to frost cheese you better have frost powers.
I will be looking at spelling and punctuation.
Applications will be open until I close them.
You may create any character of any level, any class and any race you like with whatever equipment you want (using stuff from the builder), but I will be picking 5 lvl 12 Warforged characters with standard equipment (Lvl 13-12-11 magic items and 900000 copper pieces.)
I expect backgrounds.
They should include what faction you used to belong to (use one from Eberron or MAKE ONE UP). What kind of stuff led you into the heightened spheres of Paragon Path-hood. What the hell you were doing in a box. And your character' favorite flavor of ice cream.
Bonus points for linked backgrounds.
There will be a smallish intent on my part to pick characters covering all four roles, but if the five most interesting applications are for controllers... so be it.
Bonus point for goblins, bullywugs and flying dwarves.
Again : Weapons will NOT confer keywords upon powers. If you want to frost cheese you better have frost powers.
I will be looking at spelling and punctuation.
Applications will be open until I close them.
Questions ?
Hermenegilde on
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Posts
:P
Henry Teach, human cutthroat
the game assassino_O
EDIT: And the Warforged Faceplate familiar!
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
I would have thought you would be happy to play a robot :P
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
I'll be adding his background here later this evening!
Blotch
He acts a lot like this guy here -
And looks like this guy here -
I suck at photoshop, so just imagine he's covered in runes. I mean, yeah, you have to use your imagination in D&D, too, so this is just a warm-up!
Horatio, the Battlemind/Bard who keeps the rhythm of battle going all night long.
Background will be added later, need to work on it, but no one else has submitted one for their character, either. Maybe we can do some group-planning? :P
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Blotch does have a background on his character sheet, though, and a nifty one at that.
Lots of B's so far! Blotch, B.A. Baracus the Barbarian, and a Battlemind/Bard.
I like the idea of doing an adventure with only one race, Hermenegilde! It's really nifty to see everyone's spin on the race. We've got both racial paragon paths represented so far, which is also neat!
Originally constructed as a front-line soldier, Horatio noticed how other races used music to influence others around them, whether it was a war drum pounding fear into the enemy or a mouth harp playing a soothing melody after a long shift in the trenches. When its former owner fell in battle, Horatio picked up his fallen comrade's instrument and urged on the rest of the soldiers with a rousing song of courage, and they managed to push the enemy back. Since then, Horatio has believed that a song can be as deadly a weapon as a sword, and was quickly promoted to an officer position.
During the end of his service, Horatio's familiar manifested itself to him. Horatio has named it Roger, after the human whose lyre he now carries, as it seems to enjoy plucking at the strings with its manipulators.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Bags of gold ? Did I not say copper pieces ? But yeah, they can converted to items...
Henry Teach, human cutthroat
the game assassino_O
Back story
< I would intend to play this guy in jive, but for simplicity's sake English for the back story>
Cutter was originally a human member of the Deneith house. In the last war he distinguished himself as an extremely powerful warrior and earning the nickname Cutter though his combat style utilizing high speed melee combat and his trusty halberd to deal heavy blows to multiple enemies at a time. His skills on the field not only garnered him high praise amongst the Sentinels, but also planted many seeds of jealousy within the ranks of his superiors.
One night he was contacted by his friend Dr. Halladay. Halladay informed him of an interesting and cutting edge new project the Sentinel's Research and Development department was working on, and wanted Cutter to over see the project and test the skills of the subjects created therein. The project was nicknamed Crawford Ran ( jive term for strong man), and the goal of the project was the creation of Killbots, Warforged assassins created without a consciousness to be used as black ops against rival Merc groups. Upon completion Cutter tested the skills of the killbots in single combat, and fount them to easily outclass most of their human opponents, possessing greater physical strength and resilience than any normal man could posses. Having once again become a major success his rivals could no longer sit by and watch, as Cutter's renown grew.
They set into motion a plot to assassinate him under the name Kangblabla, headed by the wizard Goon Nurk, one of the few combatants of the last war who could stand toe to toe with Cutter in combat. Although, his opponents possessed superior numbers and resources their target was the legendary Cutter, hero of the last war, and to bring down such a man required precision and power. one night working late on some of the after touches of the Crawford Ran project, the 10 completed Killbots awoke, being controlled by Goon Nurk. Cutter managed to defeat 10 of the Killbots, but caught off guard by their assault he was badly wounded. As he engaged the last of the Killbots, Nurk unleashed his most powerful spell to attempt to finish Cutter off once and for all. A dimensional rift was created ripping Cutter's consciousness from his body. With a thud his corpse fell lifeless to the floor and the remaining Killbot de-powered.
In the aftermath of the assault the project was shut down, though the remaining Killbots were used for several more years as assassins and bodyguards of the sentinels. Meanwhile Cutter's consciousness was bound to the remaining Killbot who faced him down that fated night. For years his mind floated along witnessing the acts of the Killbot and the carnage the spread as if in a dream. Until one day he began to feel his thrall over the body to which he was bound grow. It is now only a matter of time until he once again has the ability to control his own actions.
Appearance
He carries a certain swagger, but occasionally is a bit of a "spaz" as a result of his being trapped up in Killbot .06 for so long. The bots appearances is slightly altered from that of an ordinary Warforged. and they have been equipped with the favored gear of their creator who now low and behold is one of them. They are wrapped in hide armors that are meant to muffle their machine sounds while on infiltration missions. They wear heavy iron forearm guards and gloves adorned with claws and barbs, to intimidate their foes, and on their heads they have been modified to have a pair of curved horns similar to a Hercules beetle. As a memento of his friend who had lost his life at the hands of the Killbots, Dr. Halladay also attached a pouch containing three wondrous dice in them to the Killbot found with Cutter's corpse as a sort of living monument to him.
Most likely some small things will be changed.
Henry Teach, human cutthroat
the game assassino_O
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
thats a badass emoticon btw
Henry Teach, human cutthroat
the game assassino_O
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Murder machine is much cooler.
Also, surprised there hasn't been a 'Dolomite' yet.
Henry Teach, human cutthroat
the game assassino_O
Zithra Melitch in Star Wars: An Empire's End
Jellica in In the Shadow of Zeus
“The General”
Class: probably hybrid Warlord/Bard
Spent most of the Last War in the service of Lord Jesuie ir’Duich, the owner of numerous sugar fields around the town of Hazzard in southern Cyre. “The General” acted as bodyguard and courier to Lord ir’Duich’s two nephews, Beau and Lucas ir’Duich, responsible for the transport of the region’s famous `Twelve Moons’ spirit to officers on the frontline, and illicitly through neutral territories for sales to discreet parties in other countries.
Special Item: magical mithral plating, sporting the ir’Duich family standard (White stars on a blue cross, red background)
I will be trying to work in as much dodging and charging as possible.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
I went for a crossbow build because I realized that warforged can do the armbow thing and basically be a walking ballista, which is sweet. He was able to use a shield in the other hand (spiked shield with a songblade enchantment), and I concepted him as a mobile weapons platform and supply wagon (what with the healing and the buffing) that attained sentience during the war. All he had done was kill people and help others kill people, so he assumed that killing is what gives one a soul, and he would go on to use his newfound intelligence to preach the value of murder as a lifestyle.
But then I realized something else that I find incredibly amusing: you can choose warforged as a past life race for a revenant. That's right, zombie death robot! So I'm working on a concept for that right now.
also when is the deadline for this and can we post multiples?
Henry Teach, human cutthroat
the game assassino_O
@Woogity : deadline is when I pick the party. I did not put a date because then I'd have to hold to it and I want to be FREE. Multiples are fine. Warforged have souls. In fact, I believe they actually invented Soul Music. That was during the dark times, when Asmodean went on his great cosmic Tour of the Planes.
@IAmUnaware : I like the idea of it, but the lack of former memories and the Revenant "purpose" will weigh against you, it might not fit the theme which is "highish level characters who just got free will, don't know where they are and must cope with deciding things for themselves".
I don't believe you, I'm pretty sure halflings don't have souls either...damn dirty little.....anyways I fully expect at least one soul concert in the game now, Sittin' on the Dock of the Plane is always a fan favorite.
I was more referring to how they are kinda suddenly self aware yet already bad-ass, makes for interesting explanations and fun inner conflicts.
Henry Teach, human cutthroat
the game assassino_O
Well, my favorite revenant characters have always been the ones who don't quite know why they were returned to life, because I don't feel that it makes a ton of sense for non-divine characters to have a goddess whispering in their ears all the time. I was hoping we could leave the "purpose" bit in the dark and only call on it if actually helps the story. After all, who really knows why a warforged would be reanimated? The Raven Queen works in mysterious ways, etc.
I've actually just finished my concept. I'll post in a couple minutes when I finish typing it up and you can tell me if it's too far out there.
It was even true, for a time. Eventually Callum's demeanor and general cruelty made him the target of a revenge scheme in the form of a small magic bomb placed in his workshop. Fortunately, the bomb was discovered by 6PK before it could detonate. Less fortunately, he had no idea what it was and his attempt to disassemble it set it off. It wasn't a conventional explosive, instead designed to kill a living creature with magical energy, which it did quite efficiently. As his lifeforce drained rapidly, 6PK knew with great certainty that he was dying. It didn't really seem all that bad, and he couldn't understand what all the other races were so afraid of. His last thought before death was What a bunch of cowards.
6PK didn't experience any visions of the Raven Queen or return to life gasping with a divine mission planted in his mind. He just woke up a few hours later with Callum standing over him, poking him with a length of metal tubing and barking angrily at him: "Lazy bastard. You don't even need sleep, and here you are laying down on the job. And where the hell are my converters? You broke them, didn't you?"
6PK's memories were hazy and indistinct, but fortunately his habit of obsessive note-taking allowed him to pick things up roughly where he left off. That aside, life after death was much the same as life before, but 6PK felt quite different. He became obsessed with the ideas of life and death and turned his talents toward creating and summoning all sorts of creatures to learn as much as he could. His personality had also changed. He no longer had quite the cool demeanor he had once possessed, and his mind seemed a little addled. He became frustrated easily with his experiments, as his familiar and meager creations did not seem to die in the same sense that he had and he could learn nothing from them. One day, after a particularly frustrating series of failures, Callum returned to the workshop extremely drunk and berated 6PK for nearly an hour. As his frustration grew, the spark of an idea formed in the warforged's mind.
Disassembling Callum taught 6PK a great deal more than his summoning and conjuration ever had. In hindsight, it seemed obvious. Where 6PK's creations had a spark of life, a fleshbeing had a great roaring fire. His path was clear. To understand what had happened to him and to understand life and death itself, he was going to need a lot more test subjects.
I don't know much about Eberron, unfortunately, so I don't know what would happen to a warforged discovered in that situation, but I figured I could get some opinions here about how he might be "detained" or "rehabilitated". It could even be related to how he ended up in a box. And in the end he has something resembling morality to keep him from flooding the enrichment center with deadly neurotoxin, but he still has the desire to disassemble and observe which he can carry out via combat with whatever the paragon equivalent to goblins and kobolds is.
Well, if I pick Cutter, maybe we'll get this...
Killbot 2000
Neither do I !
You are aware that he is not a robot anymore but a creation of the Raven Queen that is obviously an undead ? The artificer had to be blind to not notice that. I gather they probably smell eerie too.
Kobolds are the harbingers of DOOOM !
Actually, I just reread the revenant article and no, I totally misunderstood how their bodies work. (It turns out I was not aware. Who would have guessed?) I was under the impression that the Raven Queen puts their soul back into their body and then alters that body somewhat, but in fact she does just give them a totally new body. I have misplayed that more than a couple of times.
So that's embarrassing. I think I'll just be submitting a different character then!
Background and whatnot
The one fly in the ointment was that Coda seemed less able to adapt than other warforged. Or rather, as one high-ranking Thuranni heir put it, "It's as dumb as a pile of bricks." Indeed, Coda would not stop until its target was eliminated, but it had to be given extremely specific instructions, as the following Stonespur transcript demonstrates:
TRAINER: Coda, there is a man at the Sign of the Boar who must be... taken care of.
CODA: Acknowledged. This unit will serve as his caretaker.
TRAINER: (pause, deep sigh)
Coda's field tests were conducted in Karrnath during the Last War, where it performed with admirable proficiency. It also acquired a Karrnathi accent for some reason; its Thuranni handlers remarked that Coda's voice reminded them of a governer they knew. However, Coda's obtuseness became a problem (in one instance, an imprecise description of a target led to the tragic death of every mime in the city of Karsgaard), and the Thuranni had the warforged shipped back to Sharn for repairs by House Cannith.
During all this time, Coda had been content to follow orders and fulfill the purpose it was constructed for. However, during transit, Coda witnessed a warforged playing music while a miniature warforged faceplate crouched on its shoulder. The song inspired the first sparks of what might be called emotion in Coda--but its lack of free will left it little recourse to act on the confusing sensation.
Somehow, the delivery went awry, and the crate containing Coda ended up in the hands of some disenfranchised Warforged living in Sharn. The treaty that ended the Last War had granted freedom to most Warforged, but the former soldiers found themselves without purpose. What the Warforged did know was that the city of Sharn was corrupting many of their number, who had turned to selling drugs and prostitution:
The concerned warforged citizens who found Coda saw an opportunity, but a troubling one. Coda was clearly a refined instrument of punishment, but could they bring themselves to take advantage of a warforged who had not been given the gift of free will? They ultimately chose to use Coda to clean up the streets while they searched for a way to liberate its mind. Soon, the assassin became the scourge of the criminal elements that troubled warforged society. Coda acquired no small amount of renown as a deliverer of vigilante justice on behalf of the warforged race, breaking up a number of criminal gangs by assassinating their leaders and serving as a positive role model for warforged everywhere (there is some dispute about this last point). Word of Coda's exploits spread, and House Thuranni dispatched agents to reclaim their wayward weapon. Coda soon found itself in a crate again, but things were about to take a strange turn...
Coda hasn't had much opportunity for reflection, but the instability triggered by that music has led it to a few conclusions, which it would share with anyone if it were asked, which it hasn't been.
1) It is female.
2) Its favoriate ice cream is licorice.
Amoro was extremely well designed and performed his functions with gusto. He fought other warforged that took Thistlen hostage. He read her poetry in the moonlight. He tested his strength by carrying her large form across the threshold of her room.
Amoro sought to serve his master better and while she was away, began reading her tales of high adventure. He noticed a common theme among all of the heroes. They all had free will. They all CHOSE their beloveds. The idea was revolutionary to Amoro.
When Thistlen returned home (after her clockwork servents applied great force to close her bodice), he unveiled his plan. He told her that he was leaving. She would be so pleased and aroused when he left and then came back to her. She didn't give him a chance though, she panicked and de-activated him, then began working on a replacement.
He only wanted to please his mistress...where had he gone wrong? Now re-awakened, Amoro can use his talents to seek adventures and woo true beauties like his mistress...lovely half-orcs...the ravenous gnoll mistress's he had seen pictures of.
tl;dr
Warforged Lothario, lover of non-traditional beauties. Outrageous French accent.
Ice Cream is Cherry Cordial, the ice cream of true lovers.
Henry Teach, human cutthroat
the game assassino_O
Background will come tomorrow. Ehhh screw the name. I'll have him become a member of the A-Team considering the fact that HM Murdock's character sounds like the history I plan on giving him. A giant weapon of war deemed ineffective due to his belief that his creations have emotions and life.